Wednesday, March 6, 2013

You know the saying, March comes "in like a lion and out like a lamb?" Well, today was a giant daddy lion of a day! Fortunately, the "snoquester" storm was a bust and more like a "rainquester" because it allowed me to dip out to the local ABC store and get a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream. Why did I need that? Because it's March! And March means it's time to love everything Irish for a month. To celebrate Irishness, I decided to make Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Irish Cream Ganache and Buttercream using a recipe I found on Sweet Pea's Kitchen (copied below with a few modifications). They came out great and - warning - are very rich! Hope you like dark chocolate!Ingredients

Cupcakes:

1 cup Guinness stout

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

For the Ganache:

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

2/3 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoon butter, room temperature

2 teaspoon Bailey's Irish Cream

For the Bailey's Buttercream:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 box (approx. 4 cups) powdered/confectioners sugar, sifted

4-8 tablespoons Bailey's Irish cream, based on flavor preference

Heavy cream

Making the cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with paper liners.2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine Guinness and butter. Add the cocoa; whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt; set aside.4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the eggs and sour cream until combined.5. Add Guinness mixture and beat to combine - if mixture is still warm enough to be concerned, just to make sure, add a little at first to temper the eggs before adding the rest. Mix in dry ingredients on low speed until incorporated.6. Fill the cupcake papers about 2/3 full, making sure that the batter is divided evenly.

1. Place chocolate in heatproof bowl; set aside.2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat cream until simmering. Pour over chocolate, let sit for 1 minute, then stir until smooth.3. Add butter and Bailey's; stir until smooth and combined. Set aside until cool and thick enough to be piped. stirring occasionally.4. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a paring knife or apple corer to cut out a small circle in the center of each cupcake. Remove the core.5. Transfer ganache filling to a decorating bag fitted with a small round tip (about ¼ inch). Pipe the filling into each hollowed cupcake. This may be best left as the last step once the buttercream has been piped on the cupcake.

Irish Cream Buttercream1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium high until light and fluffy.2. Add powdered sugar and beat until incorporated. Add Bailey's a few tablespoons at a time until you reach your desired consistency.

3. Use heavy cream, a little at a time, to improve consistency if you have already incorporated all 8 teaspoons of Bailey's4. Transfer frosting into a large decorators decorating bag fitted with a preferred tip and pipe desired pattern between the rim of the cupcake and the ganache filling.